Wax

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This page is about the substance. For other meanings see Wax (disambiguation).

Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees (beeswax) and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.

It is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely

plastic (malleable) at normal ambient temperatures
a melting point above approximately 45 °C (113 °F)(which differentiates waxes from fats and oils)
a relatively low viscosity when melted (unlike many plastics)
insoluble in water
hydrophobic

Waxes may be natural or artificial. In addition to beeswax, carnauba (a vegetable wax) and paraffin (a mineral wax) are commonly encountered waxes which occur naturally. Earwax is an oily substance found in the human ear. Some artificial materials that exhibit similar properties are also described as wax or waxy.

Chemically, a wax may be an ester of ethylene glycol (ethan-1,2-diol) and two fatty acids, as opposed to a fat which is an ester of glycerin (propan-1,2,3-triol) and three fatty acids. It may also be a combination of other fatty alcohols with fatty acids. It is a type of lipid.

1 Wax types
2 See also
3 External link

[edit] Wax types

[edit] Animal and insect waxes

Beeswax - produced by honeybees
Chinese wax - produced by scale insects Coccus ceriferus
Shellac wax - from the lac insect Coccus lacca
Spermaceti - from the head cavities and blubber of the Sperm Whale
Lanolin (wool wax) - from the sebaceous glands of sheep

[edit] Vegetable waxes

Bayberry wax - from the surface of the berries of the bayberry shrub
Candelilla wax - from the Mexican shrubs Euphorbia cerifera and E. antisyphilitica
Carnauba wax - from the leaves of the Carnauba Palm
Castor wax - catalytically hydrogenated castor oil
Esparto wax - a byproduct of making paper from esparto grass
Japan wax - a vegetable tallow (not a true wax), from the berries of Rhus and Toxicodendron species
Jojoba oil - pressed from the seeds of the jojoba bush, a replacement for spermaceti
Ouricury wax - from the Brazilian Feather Palm
Rice bran wax - obtained from rice bran